Recommended maintenance outside of dealer recs

[Overtrail Mike]

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After a stupidly long wait, I finally got my LC about a week ago. I went ahead and got it's first oil change right away as many recommended and am wondering what other maintenance I should be doing ahead of the dealer recommendations to keep it in it's best shape.

I got my cargo light and have covers coming for the cargo area for all the rescue/foster/my own dogs I cart around along with open house signs. Probably all the extras that I need for the time being. Sadly no time for major off-roading these days, but I'd like to keep it in its best shape so when the time does come down the road, she'll still be a reliable and won't leave me stranded on a trail.

Would love to hear feedback from anyone willing to share.

I got my first oil change after reading about oil testing and shavings in oil. That was mainly for peace of mind. I do recommend watching a YouTube video by The Car Nut who is a master mechanic and covers a great deal in the link shown.

Congratulations!

The Car Care Nut reviews the 2024 Landcruiser

www.landcruiserforum.com

 

[RUN-8]

My recommendation for any vehicle is just follow the maintenance schedule included provided by the manufacturer. This has worked well for me. I keep my vehicles a long time with many going over 250k miles before I sold them.

Dealers will often require more services, or more frequent services, than the manufacturer. Don’t do any of this. The dealers do this to get more money since they make most of their money in the service department.

Not sure why you got your oil changed right away after taking delivery. That seems like a waste, but already done so no harm.

A simplified explanation for why one would change fluids earlier than called for in the owners manual would be that oil/fluids are cheap; engines, transmissions, differentials, and transfer cases are not cheap.

A more thoughtful explanation would be that despite what the owners manual calls for a consumer should understand that everything is a compromise. Toyota wants to be able to show lower operating costs, and cost of ownership, as well as a more environmentally friendly vehicle. If oil changes and fluid changes can be eliminated or intervals extended they get to market this as a feature. Now with complimentary service for the first two years there is cost savings in extending OCI’s too.

So the warranty department number crunchers have a sit down with the slide rule pocket protector engineers, and the marketing department. They hash out how little maintenance they can get away with to save money, and market low ownership costs while still maintaining acceptably low warranty claims.

If you turn over vehicles every 3-5 years by all means stick to the service guide.

If you intend to keep the vehicle longer term you might choose to pursue a more proactive maintenance schedule.

Furthermore if you look at the service guide you will find that there is a severe duty recommendation that basically cuts service intervals in half (at least there was a severe duty recommendation in manuals of the past). For example towing, vehicle operations in very hot or very cold weather, off road driving, even lots of stop and go driving etc. If this describes your use, you too may actually fall under severe service guidelines for routine maintenance.

 

[SD_Driver]

A simplified explanation for why one would change fluids earlier than called for in the owners manual would be that oil/fluids are cheap; engines, transmissions, differentials, and transfer cases are not cheap.

A more thoughtful explanation would be that despite what the owners manual calls for a consumer should understand that everything is a compromise. Toyota wants to be able to show lower operating costs, and cost of ownership, as well as a more environmentally friendly vehicle. If oil changes and fluid changes can be eliminated or intervals extended they get to market this as a feature. Now with complimentary service for the first two years there is cost savings in extending OCI’s too.

So the warranty department number crunchers have a sit down with the slide rule pocket protector engineers, and the marketing department. They hash out how little maintenance they can get away with to save money, and market low ownership costs while still maintaining acceptably low warranty claims.

If you turn over vehicles every 3-5 years by all means stick to the service guide.

If you intend to keep the vehicle longer term you might choose to pursue a more proactive maintenance schedule.

Furthermore if you look at the service guide you will find that there is a severe duty recommendation that basically cuts service intervals in half (at least there was a severe duty recommendation in manuals of the past). For example towing, vehicle operations in very hot or very cold weather, off road driving, even lots of stop and go driving etc. If this describes your use, you too may actually fall under severe service guidelines for routine maintenance.

I keep all my vehicles a long time; typically 10 - 20 years. My Accord is around 250k miles now and I actually don’t even follow the manual anymore since it was written when synthetic oil wasn’t mainstream. I change the oil every year or 10k miles whichever comes first.

The other thing to consider is the time it takes going somewhere to have your oil changed, especially at the dealer. It’s always at least 2 hours of waiting. Or dropping it off and coming back later. Plus, most places have their most inexperienced technicians doing the oil changes so more likely to make mistakes. I’ve read more issues about people having issues after oil changes (loose oil filter, loose drain plug, missing cap, etc) than people having engine failures from following the owner’s manual maintenance schedule.

And I agree with the severe service. If you’re always driving under the severe conditions, follow that part of the manual.

 

[RUN-8]

I keep all my vehicles a long time; typically 10 - 20 years. My Accord is around 250k miles now and I actually don’t even follow the manual anymore since it was written when synthetic oil wasn’t mainstream. I change the oil every year or 10k miles whichever comes first.

The other thing to consider is the time it takes going somewhere to have your oil changed, especially at the dealer. It’s always at least 2 hours of waiting. Or dropping it off and coming back later. Plus, most places have their most inexperienced technicians doing the oil changes so more likely to make mistakes. I’ve read more issues about people having issues after oil changes (loose oil filter, loose drain plug, missing cap, etc) than people having engine failures from following the owner’s manual maintenance schedule.

And I agree with the severe service. If you’re always driving under the severe conditions, follow that part of the manual.

I do my own preventative maintenance like oil changes. There will be a Fumoto F133N drain valve installed here in about 1000 miles making oil changes about a 15 minute job if I am pressed for time. I’ve been running these valves for several years on other vehicles and they make oil changes easy and clean.

Prior to my current career, after leaving military service I worked at a BMW dealership for about 2 years. BMW has been specifying fully synthetic oil for well over 20 years now. Even in the mid 2000’s they were using it as factory fill, and utilizing extended drain intervals. I’ve had the chance to observe what the insides of those engines looked like running full synthetic oil for 10-15K miles, and even using a large filter and a healthy 7-8 quarts of capacity, things are not as clean as I would like to have seen. Particularly the top of the cylinder heads. Lots and lots of varnish. Plenty of chances to see them opened up because the solid lifter S54 inline 6 had to have valve adjustment every 30K if memory serves. The owners who did 15K OCI’s had varnish, the maintenance enthusiasts doing them at 5K had very nice clean cams, springs, valve stems etc.

On the other side of the dealership we had a Toyota and Lexus store back when OCI’s were 5K. Every now and then a lease turn in Lexus RX would show up where the nice older lady leasing may or may not have stuck to a 5K OCI for their lease, after 30K miles on the same oil things don’t look good… but that is not a fair example.

Then again if your goal is a 5K OCI and you forget, or go over a few thousand miles, or even go to 10K every once in a while you are still well within the service life of that synthetic oil. If 10K OCI’s are what you’re rolling with you best stay on top of them.

 

[ultane]

The Motor Oil Geek did a great video on Valvoline Restore and Protect motor oil. Once I noticed the varnish on the oil dipstick of my 2015 Ford Transit 350 (115,000 mostly highway miles), I started using it. Changed the first R & P after ~1700 miles, and will do the second R & P change after about 3500 miles, then every 5,000 moving forward. I shortened the OCI initially since someone on YouTube said the R & P caused his oil filter to clog up with debris.

 

[jpto]

Oil change intervals are a contentious topic and I think the interval depends on your driving habits. Someone in south who drives highway miles can get away with 10K+ oil change intervals vs someone in the snowbelt who drives mainly short city trips would benefit from 5K or under.

Personally I'm going to stick with a shorter oil change interval since I don't drive that many miles, I feel like it's beneficial to change your oil at least twice a year in cold climates.

I also feel like the coolant intervals too long in the manual and will be doing a DIY coolant change every three years on the engine/turbo and inverter. Three years is likely too short but you never get all of the coolant out and acidic coolant is terrible for head gaskets and the inverter. This is a pretty easy DIY task if you can change your own oil

Also planning on DIY transmission drain and refill 3-5 years.